FM employees protest against salary conditions
Foreign Ministry employees claim that government is not honoring their wage agreement; Foreign Ministry Workers' Committee Chairman asks PM to protect FM employees from the ministry, while handing him a carrot as sign of protest.
The heads of the Foreign Ministry workers' Committee surprised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a ceremony on Monday celebrating Rosh Hashanah by presenting him with a carrot as a sign of protest against the ministry’s new salary conditions.
The chairman of the committee Eli Ifrah explained the meaning behind the unusual gift.
"We, the Foreign Ministry employees, we will not be baby carrots," Ifrah exclaimed.
Netanyahu raised the carrot in the air and smiled. However, he did not address the accusations against him.
Earlier, Netanyahu gave a presentation on the widespread international support that Israel receives, almost identical to the one presented at the Ambassadors Conference eight months ago.
Ifrah then gave an elaborated speech expressing his disagreement against the failures to find a solution to the new salary conditions.
"We signed agreements that were not honored, and even before the discussion over them was concluded, they had been violated. Are we required to continue on as if nothing has happened?" Yifrach wondered.
The chairman said that the committee had reached an agreement on the overseas wage model, which has not yet entered into force “despite the fact that it has been almost a year since its been signed.”
“Positions abroad are being terminated right and left … and our partners who join us on our missions around the world are financially and professionally hurt and it’s because someone at the Foreign Ministry went to sleep,” he vented.
"Honorable prime minister and foreign minister, we know when to fight over what’s right. We are appealing to you here and now, because you are the prime minister. You are our foreign minister,” the chairman continued.
“You realize that without these good and talented people, nothing will be done. Without budgets, there are no events. We ask that you intervene and save this ministry, protect the employees from the Ministry of Finance," Yifrach stressed.
Yifrach added that the employees are examining what will be their next move if the situation continues.
"Due to being left with no choice, these days we are examining the continuation of our professional and organizational steps, with the cooperation and backing of the Histadrut … Foreign Ministry employees are not 'baby carrots'. Anyone who believes that we can be put into a freezer and expect us to be paralyzed at temperatures of minus 30 degrees is mistaken!" he lashed out.
Foreign Ministry Director-General Yuval Rotem and Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely also attended the ceremony.
